BTO bird camp Wales

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I’ve just got back from the brilliant BTO bird camp in wales so I thought I would share some highlights!!

Day 1 🌊🐝🌿

On the evening we arrived we were straight out round Stackpole National Trust where we were staying to do some bat detecting. We detected and also saw so many species including Noctules, Horseshoes and Pipistrelles!

Sound on for Noctule bats!!

The next day we started by checking the moths in the trap that was set the night before. We caught such a variety of species it was absolutely amazing! Some of my highlights were the Elephant and Pine Hawkmoths, Buff ermines, Pale tussocks and Ghost moths 😍

Elephant hawk moth
White ermine
Buff ermine

Then later in the day we went for a fantastic boat trip round possibly my favourite place in the UK – the amazing Skomer island!!! It was so cool to see the island from a different perspective and see all of the Puffins, Razorbills and Guillemots flying back in from the sea 🌊

In the afternoon we took part in some mindfulness sessions and POMS surveys before playing games around the campfire in the evening!

BTO bird camp Day 2 💙🌿

On the second day of the camp, we were up at the crack of dawn to go and watch a ringing demo at a local site. As I am a trainee ringer, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to ring a few of the birds including some lovely summer species like Reed and Willow warblers 😍 It was great to ring with another group and see how they do things differently, I learnt a lot!

Then later in the day we headed over to Stack Rocks to view the large Guillemot colonies! The landscape was absolutely breathtaking and it was lovely to see the different seabirds around and also my first choughs!!!

After doing a few more POMS surveys and Stack Rocks we headed back to the bunkhouse where we all came together to create an exhibition of art and collections to show our parents what we had been up to over the weekend! My personal favourite piece of artwork was a painting of me ringing a Bullfinch by Eden 🥰

The whole camp was just amazing and it was lovely to be with other young birders who I learnt so much from! A big thank you to BTO Youth for organising it so perfectly and also to the volunteers who helped out 💚

Also a huge thanks to the Cameron Bespolka Trust for funding these camps and making them so accessible to everyone!

https://www.bto.org/community/events/youth-events/bto-bird-camp

https://www.cameronbespolka.com/

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Published by Izzy Fry

Hey! My name is Izzy Fry, I am a 17 year old aspiring wildlife conservationist living in Wiltshire. During my free time I am always outside looking for wildlife and volunteering my time to local charities and organisations, for example I am a young ambassador for the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, working to engage new members, I take part in surveys and monitoring for the PTES, I am on the committee for my local Natural History Society and I also take part in the BTO bird ringing scheme! I am currently at school studying Environmental Science, Geography and Biology for A Levels and my plans for after school are to take a gap year and travel the globe to gain new experience and knowledge working in different places before coming back to study wildlife conservation and ecology at uni. I also love to share my photos and experiences on my social media pages and blogs to inspire and encourage a love for nature and wildlife in more people, especially young people!

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